Articles published 12/2025
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RIABiz's five top articles of 2025: Schwab goes 'discretionary' on wealth • Schwab plans to keep or self-refer all sub-$2-million accounts • Fidelity flexes its 401(k) edge • Vanguard sheds nice-guy culture with internal pitting • RIA's lawyer kills Merrill's TRO attempt on $129-billion breakaway
December 31, 2025 at 2:07 AMRIAs quickly grasp when a move by Fidelity, Schwab or Vanguard could have an impact that shifts the ecosystem for better or worse.
Aaron Schumm just pulled off another opportunistic 401(k) recordkeeper M&A deal because of ready cash, critical mass and 'very repeatable process' of picking off stragglers
December 30, 2025 at 2:44 AMVestwell CEO's latest deal to buy a business's recordkeeping assets is also its largest, prompting an ad hoc VC raise from current backers who could see deal was too good to pass up.
FINNY gets $17 million to 'define category'--automated organic growth--for RIAs with major 'enterprise' deals up next, and 80% inbound calls
December 24, 2025 at 3:18 AMThe New York City AI company sees itself as front-runner in new category of automated organic growth, but its CEO admits plan involves 'Hunger Games' AI-engineering headhunting challenge in New York City.
Altruist again sells sweet 'digital' experience for young mass affluent to clinch Bryn Mawr Trust custody deal, and this time the $3-billion RIA comes with an added wrinkle
December 20, 2025 at 2:50 AMSuccess on the high-net-worth stage at Bryn Mawr is also an audition for $93 billion of managed assets at its parent, WSFS.
How exactly Jamie Price got Shannon Reid to exit Raymond James for Osaic. It started with 'five minutes' then each made a big shift
December 19, 2025 at 2:10 AMThe Osaic CEO sought a top 'growth' officer but quickly shifted to 'president' and Reid was caught off guard by how the Osaic vison clicked with her.
Vanguard CEO puts second 'Fidelity talent' in c-suite in two years, reuniting Kathryn Condon and Joanna Rotenberg -- a 'smart' hire for the 'marketing machine' yet with 'cultural risk'
December 18, 2025 at 2:04 AMSalim Ramji, himself an outside poach, is shoring up Vanguard's one apparent deficit -- its ability to appeal to the next generation of investors.
What Rich Steinmeier confided about Commonwealth deal at Goldman Sachs event was minor for LPL. For Osaic, Cetera, Raymond James and Kestra the unseen deal cost was a major reprieve
December 17, 2025 at 3:21 AMLPL spent time, emotions and outside recruiting to convince Commonwealth brokers to join LPL, but won 'commitments' to transfer most Commonwealth assets to LPL's custody and clearing.
BlackRock launches -- almost secretively -- the ultimate 'total' fixed-income ETF and joins Vanguard with its own slew of new fixed-income ETFs -- just in time for declining rates
December 16, 2025 at 3:12 AMThe iShares product literally sells the 'full taxable US bond market in a single' product -- including TIPS and expanding exposure by 28% beyond the Bloomberg US Aggregate Index as the ultimate hedge.
Adam Birenbaum assumes the CEO hotseat at Focus Financial, becoming third chief executive in three years as Michael Nathanson steps down in 'plan' he 'designed'
December 13, 2025 at 2:09 AMThe 47 year-old St. Louis phenom takes over from the 58 year-old ex-Colony CEO but with the same steep challenge of making 70 autonomous RIA units work more collaboratively, while adding more RIAs.
Eduardo Repetto answers 10 questions about Avantis Investors improbable climb to $100 billion in its first six years -- including why he considers the milestone a 'tiny number'
December 12, 2025 at 4:37 AMThe ex DFA co-CEO and chief of the Los Angeles (mostly) active ETF shop says assets are a drop in ocean of wealth assets and $50 billion of new assets since 2024 is largely came by word of mouth.
Sequoia Financial Group hired Arch to automate alts data, and its 'pain' testimonial led to a 1099 integration with Schwab Advisor Services for mutual clients
December 11, 2025 at 12:43 AMSequoia, with near $30 billion of AUM, uses both firms to automate alts administration, and it helped press the case for its game partner.
NewEdge has a 1099, W-2 and RIA channel and wants to take down wirehouses -- so it hired a 17-year Morgan Stanley executive who just spent seven years at the Mark Zuckerberg RIA
December 10, 2025 at 2:28 AMThe $80-billion all-channel RIA is showing it technology seriousness by making a wirehouse operations exec its CEO.
Envestnet uses $7-trillion heft to tap Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, JP Morgan and 17-plus big asset managers to offer its tax management program to advisors for free
December 6, 2025 at 1:41 AMThe Berwyn, Pa. fund platform for 110,000 advisors is absorbing half the fee cut and getting managers to pay the other half as it executes on five-year plan rolled out by Bain Capital.
DPL discovers in-house AUM unlock, triggering leap in annuity assets, which leads to Tom McCarthy's hiring from Orion to keep it rolling
December 5, 2025 at 3:22 AMDavid Lau grows the Louisville-based startup by $1.4 billion in one year by creating software to help convert becalmed brokerage annuities into RIA AUM
Vanguard's lifting of crypto ban reveals internal 'tension' between brokerage and investing units, and how new CEO Salim Ramji errs toward principled paradox
December 4, 2025 at 2:21 AMThe Malvern, Pa., giant's brokerage and its asset management prioritize 'choice' and 'belief' differently -- something apparent in its bifurcated Dec. 1 crypto announcement, denouncing its zero cash flow and celebrating liquidity of funds that hold it
Wealthfront wants just $255 million net from IPO, and warns its newfound cash flow relies on precarious, interest-rate sensitive bank products, new SEC filing reveals
December 3, 2025 at 2:33 AMThe Palo Alto robo-advisor finally broke even in 2024, thanks to the private-labeling -- and mark up -- of cash savings administered by R&T Deposit Solutions -- under favorable interest rates in 2024-2025
Pontera's last-bid gambit to turn Fidelity credential-sharing ban into an 'investor rights issue,' falls flat, and now Schwab and others are turning a deaf ear as bans spread
December 2, 2025 at 3:00 AMThe New York City fintech appealed to 33 million plan participants in a 3,000 word post, but mowed over concerns of 24,300-plus plan sponsors who hold Fidelity's fate as recordkeeper in their hands, analysts say.
